


concrete sand-dunes

by catpoop



Series: Sheith Month 2018 [6]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Childhood, First Meetings, Fluff, Hoverbikes, M/M, Neighbours, Platonic Relationships, Pre-Kerberos Mission, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-08
Updated: 2018-07-08
Packaged: 2019-06-07 01:04:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,739
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15207434
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/catpoop/pseuds/catpoop
Summary: Sheith Month '18 - 8/7: HoverbikeShiro looks up from his new bike to see -a little face staring at him from within the bushes?or: in which Shiro gets a stalker and a new friend





	concrete sand-dunes

**Author's Note:**

> feel bad for skipping the 7/7 prompt but o well

Shiro had never noticed the little boy from across the street – at least not until his parents got him a small, well-used hoverbike for his 16th. He’s seen some of the richer kids at school with their brand-new bikes, but seeing as this is the first craft he’s ever had the opportunity to own, he’s nothing but grateful.

He’s hosing down the already-clean metal plating out in the driveway when he idly looks across the street to see a small face peering over the fence and straight at him. Shiro offers a smile, but the boy immediately ducks down and disappears. Somewhat confused, Shiro returns to his task.

His parents wouldn’t let him do anything on the hoverbike that isn’t legally allowed on the roads, so most of his driving is just the daily commute to and from school. Not enough for anything more than a flicker of adrenaline, but sneaking the bike out to race circles in an empty parking lot somewhere would be pushing it. He has a scholarship to maintain, which means high grades which means coming home at a reasonable time to get started on his study.

Still, the bike ignites a flicker of potential rebellion inside him.

 

The next time he sees his unnamed neighbour, Shiro is patching up a chip in the glossy black paint that coats the hoverbike’s wings. It had been a stupid accident involving an anonymous lamppost and his own drifting thoughts, and Shiro feels a pang of guilt as he studies the now-uneven surface of that one wing. Of course, the bike had its own chips and dents from before, but he had fixed them all up to the best of his abilities.

At least the bike has… _character_ , he thinks.

A rustling in a nearby bush pulls him from his thoughts, and it’s only by luck that Shiro doesn’t tip over in his unsteady squat from shock. That same face from a week prior is staring back at him again, but this time from within one of his mother’s well-kept bushes that hedge their driveway.

“Hey, uh –” Shiro raises his hand in what he hopes is a welcoming manner. Once again, the kid tries to duck out of view, but now that Shiro can see a pair of beaten up red sneakers sticking out from under the bush, it’s kind of hard to ignore his existence. He sets down his tools and walks over to investigate.

“Hey – you know I can see you, right?”

“…No you can’t,” a small voice replies after a touch.

Shiro raises an exasperated brow as small feet shuffle nervously on the ground. “What do you want, anyway?”

There’s an awkward cough. “…C-Can I see your bike?”

 _Oh._ Now that Shiro thinks about it, the kid’s only appeared when he had the bike out. Better than having some kind of strange child stalker, he thinks.

“Uh, sure?”

After a bit of rustling, two skinny arms and a head emerge from the foliage as the kid jumps out and over the branches and leaves. Shiro winces as he hears a few definite cracks – he just hopes his mum won’t notice all the damage to her precious plants. 

The kid, he now sees, is a skinny little thing – maybe eight or nine – and Shiro briefly wonders if he’s expected to know how to deal with children. The kid’s dressed in what looks like a set of baggy hand-me-downs and his messy hair frames his face and half covers his eyes.

Shiro doesn’t recall the Jacksons across from them as ever having more than two children, but maybe he’s just unobservant.

“What’s your name?”

“Keith,” the boy mutters, darting a glance up at him before running over to the bike and stopping a half-metre away from it in what can only be described as reverence.

Shiro approaches cautiously, inspecting the wet spot of paint on the side of his bike and taking in all the other dents and imperfections.

“You know, she’s not the prettiest specimen. I’m sure I’ve seen a much newer one down the street.”

“She’s alright.” Keith reaches out a hand to touch the seat like one would the nape of a skittish horse. He retracts his hand after a brief moment before glancing up at Shiro through a curtain of messy hair. “Thanks.”

And with that, Keith runs off on his skinny legs, darting looks down both sides of the road before sprinting across it and diving back into his garden. Shiro can only follow his path with a look of bewilderment.

At least the boy was… benign.

 

He asks his parents over dinner about this ‘Keith’ character, to which they mention he might’ve been adopted a year or two ago. 

“But I’ve never seen him around,” his mother adds. “Maybe you could introduce him next time he comes over?”

 

Keith shakes his head from where he’s sat cross-legged on their driveway. “I don’t like adults.”

Shiro pauses, wet cloth stilling on his hoverbike. He’s been mistaken for an adult often, mostly due to his height and build, but also the maturity he’s been forced to develop with a rowdy twelve year old brother his parents expect him to take care of when they’re busy.

“But I’m alright?” He asks jokingly.

“You’re just a stupid teenager,” Keith says with a superiority that sounds strange coming from a child’s mouth. And then he adds, “That’s what Sam says. All teenagers are stupid.”

From what Shiro can recall, the Jackson’s eldest son was maybe eighteen or nineteen himself – but he agrees with the sentiment. “And you’re a stupid kid, right?”

To his surprise, Keith leaps up with a furious yell. “No I’m not!” Shiro barely has time to brace himself before furious fists batter against his face – not enough to do damage, but enough to shock him into realising that _oops_ , he messed up.

“Take that back! Take that back!” Keith continues, until Shiro recovers from the shock and coughs apologetically.

“Okay, okay, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it, anyway.”

Keith pauses to inspect him with a scowl. “Okay then. And don’t call me a kid, I’m ten!”

Shiro shrugs internally as he gets back to his work and Keith sits down in his regular spot. If he’d known getting attacked by an angry child was a consequence of owning a hoverbike, he might’ve had second thoughts. Anyway, it would probably be more appropriate for Keith to go bother Ryou, seeing as they’re closer in age.

However, Keith has a very good knack for disappearing when he sees someone he doesn’t want to interact with – that is, everyone else in Shiro’s family aside from him.

Maybe it’s the bike, or maybe it’s his often-awkward conversation – Shiro doesn’t understand the appeal, but if Keith wants to tag along, there’s not much he can do about it.

 

Keith becomes a lot more cooperative the first time Shiro lets him clamber into the driver’s seat, his feet dangling a distance away from the foot pedals.

“Can we go for a ride around the neighbourhood?” He looks up at Shiro with veritable _sparkles_ in his indigo eyes, and Shiro lets out a sigh.

“Do you have a helmet?”

Keith shakes his head.

“Well then we can’t, sorry.”

The entire time, Shiro is visualising Ryou’s electric blue helmet, probably a bit too large for Keith but otherwise alright. Still, there’s a part of him that feels reluctant about giving in to Keith like this – he barely knows the kid, and what if he leaps off or does something equally crazy mid-ride?

Keith stubbornly sticks his bottom lip out. “Fine.”

 

And, as Shiro really should have foreseen, Keith turns up the next day with an oversized helmet tucked under his arm, appearing from beside their driveway the moment Shiro wheels his bike out. 

“Not now, Keith – I’m going to school.”

“I can come with you.”

Shiro has half a mind to just zoom down the road faster than Keith can run. “Don’t you also have school to go to?”

“I don’t _have_ to…”

Sighing, Shiro concedes. “How ‘bout I give you a ride this afternoon? So just go off to school or whatever now, okay?”

Keith nods furiously and disappears as fast as he appeared. 

 

In hindsight, Shiro’s not sure if Keith even knows what time to meet him, but nevertheless, he’s sat there in the driveway as Shiro pulls in. He bounces to his feet as Shiro dismounts.

“Can –”

“Lemme just drop off my school stuff first, okay?”

Once inside, he yells to his mum that he’s going out for a quick errand or two, before throwing his schoolbag in the vague direction of his bed and hopping into a more comfortable set of clothes. When he gets back outside, Keith has already strapped the helmet to his head and clambered onto the bike.

“Hey!”

Keith stares belligerently out from underneath the brim of his helmet before it tips forward to cover half his face. Shiro sighs.

“Just wait, I’ll go get my brother’s helmet.”

Thankfully, Ryou is alright with lending him the helmet, not even asking Shiro what he wants it for. He buckles the straps and tightens them around Keith’s tiny head until he looks safe enough to survive a head-first collision with the ground.

“Are you done?” Keith grumbles.

“You should be glad I’m even agreeing to this,” Shiro points out. Keith’s scowl deepens further, but there’s no mistaking the way he eagerly hops onto the bike after Shiro and digs little claw-like hands into his sides as they speed off.

“Go faster!” Keith yells at him as Shiro leisurely cruises down the street.

“I can’t.”

“Yeah you can! Just step on the thingy and –”

“Nope.”

He can feel Keith pouting behind him, but seeing as Shiro’s just gotten his license and it’s the middle of the afternoon, he doesn’t really want to jeopardise this chance at independence.

Keith gives him another ineffective glare once he parks the bike, to which Shiro responds with a shrug and a “You’re welcome.”

“When – If, If I get my own bike I’m gonna go as fast as I _possibly_ can and no one’s gonna stop me,” Keith proclaims, determination on his face.

Shiro smiles wryly. “Okay then.”

 

(Keith gets his own bike one day, but it used to be Shiro’s and now there’s only him and miles of empty desert and no one to stop him, even if he wants.)

**Author's Note:**

> yeah i know theres plotholes i.e. why does shiro drive to and from what is presumed to be high-school but also the last sentence insinuates kerberos happened? what age did he join the garrison lets say 18 bc this is fanfiction and no one cares (i care, but not enough to change the fic)


End file.
